Mustafa al-Maraghi

Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi ( ar, محمد مصطفى المراغي; 5 March 1881 – 22 August 1945) was an Egyptian reformer and rector of Al-Azhar from

El Maragha El Maragha ( ar, المراغة, ) is a city in the Sohag Governorate in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile. Etymology The name of the city is a corruption of . This claim is also supported by a Coptic translation of thi ...

Sohag Governorate Sohag Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the southern part of the country (Upper Egypt), and covers a stretch of the Nile Valley. Since 1960, its capital has been the city of Sohag. Prior to that, the capital was t ...

. Al-Maraghi was active in encouraging reforms within legal and social contexts as well as within education where he notably campaigned for the introduction of modern sciences to the curriculum. He was a proponent of

ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...

—a process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources, the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

and the

Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...

—and the integration of the separate schools of law. He was active on an international level with regard to religious conferences and was also open about his wish to see clergy take a more prominent role in government. In the

1918 Birthday Honours The 1918 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, 3 June a ...

, he was made an Honorary Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

as Grand

Qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...

of the Sudan. In March 1924 al-Jizawi formed the Greater Committee for Religious Knowledge in direct response to the

collapse of the Caliphate The Ottoman Caliphate, the world's last widely recognized caliphate, was abolished on 3 March 1924 (27 Rajab 1342 AH) by decree of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The process was one of Atatürk's reforms following the replacement of the ...

and the issue of preaching in such an environment. Al-Maraghi was included as a member. Al-Maraghi met the English translator

Marmaduke Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 187519 May 1936) was an English Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called ''The Meaning of the Glorious Koran''. His translation of the Qur ...

, who wished his translation of the Qur'an authorized by the

Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

Loyal Enemy Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 187519 May 1936) was an English Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called ''The Meaning of the Glorious Koran''. His translation of the Qur ...

Anne Fremantle Anne Jackson Fremantle (born Anne-Marie Huth Jackson; 1909–2002) was an English-American journalist, translator, poet, novelist and biographer.Mujaddid 1881 births 1945 deaths Grand Imams of al-Azhar Honorary Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Sohag Governorate {{Islamic-scholar-stub